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1. The ftem of the flower jhould he lofty and flrong. 
2. The foot-ftalk of the flower Jhould be floor t, that the 
umbel may be regular and clofe. 
•3. The fife or neck of each flower Jhould be Jhort , and 
the flowers large , and regularly fpread , being no ways in- 
clinable to cup. 
4. That the colours are very bright , well mixed. 
5. That the eye of the flower be large , round, and of a 
good white , yellow ; that the tube or neck be not 
too wide. 
All the flowers of this kind that want any of the 
above-mentioned properties, are now reje&ed by every 
good ftorift ; for as the varieties every year increafe 
from feeds, the bad ones are turned out to make 
room for their betters ; but in fome people the paflion 
for new flowers fo much prevails, that, fuppofing the 
old flower greatly preferable to a new one, if it is of 
their own railing, the latter mult take place of the 
old one. 
In order to obtain good flowers from feeds, you mufc 
make choice of the bell flowers you have, which fliould 
be expofed to the open air, that they may have the 
benefit of fhowers, without which they feldom pro-- 
duce good feeds : the time of their ripening is in 
June, which you will eafily know, by their feed-veffel 
turning to a brown colour, and opening •, you mull 
therefore be careful left the feeds be fcattered out of 
the veftel, for it will not be all fit to gather at the 
fame time. 
The time for fowing this feed is commonly in Au- 
guft, but if it be fown any time before Chriftmas, it 
will be time enough. 
The belt foil for this feed is good, frelh, light, fan- 
dy mould, mixed with very rotten neats dung, or very 
rotten dung from the bottom of an old hot-bed : 
with this you fhould fill your pots, boxes, or balkets, 
in which you intend to fow your feeds : and having 
levelled the furface of the earth very fmooth, fow 
your feeds thereon, covering it very lightly with rotten 
Willow mould taken out of the ftems of decayed hol- 
low Willow-trees ; then cover the box, &c. with a 
net or wire, to prevent the cats, birds, &c. from 
fcratching out, or burying the feeds too deep ; for 
whenever this happens, the feeds will remain a year 
jn the ground before the plants appear, if it fhould 
grow at laft ; for which reafon many perfons never 
cover thefe feeds, but leave them upon the furface 
of the earth, in the boxes, for the rain to waftvthem 
into the ground, which is often the belt method : 
let thefe boxes, &c. be placed To as to receive half 
the day’s fun, during the winter feafon ; but in ■ the 
beginning of March, remove them where they may 
only have the morning fun till ten of the clock •, for 
the young plants will now foon begin to appear, 
which, if expofed to one day’s whole fun only, will 
be all deftroyed. 
During the fummer feafon, in dry weather, often re- 
frefh them with water, but never give them too great 
quantities at once. In the July following, your plants 
will be large enough to tranfplant, at which time 
you muft prepare a bed, or boxes, filled with the 
above-mentioned foil, in which you may plant them 
about three inches fquare ; and (if in beds) you muft 
fnade them every day, till they are thoroughly rooted, 
as alfo in very hot dry weather ; but if they are in 
balkets or boxes, they may be removed to a fhady 
place. 
When the feedling Auriculas are planted in beds, 
there fhould be fome rotten neats dung laid about ten 
inches under the furface, and beaten down clofe and 
fmooth : this will prevent the worms from drawing 
the young plants out of the earth, which they gene- 
rally do where this is not pra&ifed. This dung fhould 
be laid about half a foot thick, which will entirely 
prevent the worms getting through it until the plants 
are well eftablifhed in the beds ; and the roots of the 
Auriculas will ftrike down into the dung by the fpring, 
which will make their flowers ftronger than ufual : 
thefe. beds fhould be expofed to the eaft, and fcreened 
from the fouth fun. 
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A U R 
When you have taken all your plants, which are now 
come up, out of your boxes or pots, level the earth 
gently again *, for it often happens, that fome of the 
feeds will lie in the ground two years before they ap- 
pear, efpeciaily if they were covered too deep when 
fown, as was before obferved. 
The fpring following many of thefe flowers will 
fhew, when you may felect fuch of them as have good 
properties, which fliould be removed each of them in- 
to a pot of the fame prepared earth, and prefervcd 
until the next feafon, at which time you will be capa- 
ble to form a judgment of the goodnefs of the flow- 
er ; but thofe that produce plain-coloured or fmall 
flowers, fliould be taken out, and planted in borders 
in the out-parts of the garden, to make a fhew, or 
gather for nofegays, &c. the others, which do not 
produce their flowers the faiqe year, rnayybe taken 
up, and tranfplanted into a freih bed, to remain till 
you fee how they will prove. 
The manner of propagating 'thefe flowers when ob- 
tained, is from offsets, or flips, taken from the old 
roots in April, when the flowers are in bloom : thefe 
offsets muft be planted into fmall pots filled with the 
fame fort of earth as was before directed for the feed- 
lings, and, during the fummer feafon, fliould be fet 
in a fhady place, and muft be often, (but very gently) 
refrefhed with water ; but in the autumn- and winter 
fliould be flickered from violent rains. The fpring 
following thefe young plants will produce flowers, 
though but weak ; foon after they are paft flowering,, 
you muft put them into larger pots, and the fecond 
year they will blow in perfection. 
But, in order to obtain a fine bloom of thefe flowers, 
you muft obferve the following directions. 
Firft, Preferve your plants from too much wet in 
winter, which often rots and fpolls them but let 
them have as much free open air as poflible ; nor 
fliould they be too much expofed to the fun, which 
is apt to forward their budding for flower too foon ; 
and the frofty mornings, which often happen in March, 
thereby deftroy their buds, if they are not protected 
therefrom. To prevent which, thofe who are very 
curious in thefe flowers, place their pots in autumn 
under a common hot-bed frame, where, in good wea- , 
ther, the plants may enjoy the full air, by drawing 
off the glaffes ; and in great rains, fnow, or froft, the 
plants may be fcreened by covering them. Where 
this method is practifed with judgment, the flowers 
will be much ftronger, and the plants will increafe 
falter than when they are expofed abroad. 
Secondly, In the beginning of February, if the wea- 
ther is mild, you muft take off the upper part of the 
earth in the Auricula pots, as low as you can yrithout 
difturbing their roots, and fill up the pots with frefh. 
rich earth, which will greatly ftreftgthen them for 
bloom ; as alfo prepare your offsets for tranfplanting 
in April, by caufing them to pufii out new roots. 
Thofe plants which have ftrong Angle heads, always 
produce the largeft clufters of flowers ; therefore the 
curious fiofiffs puli off the offsets- as foon as it can be 
done with fafety to their growing, to encourage the 
mother plants to flower the ftronger •, they alfo pinch 
off the flowers in autumn, where they are produced, 
and fuffer them not to open, that the plants fhould 
not be weakened thereby. 
Thirdly, You muff cover your pots with mats in 
frofty weather, during this, time of their budding for 
flower, left the fharp mornings blight them, and pre- 
vent their blowing. 
Fourthly, When your flower-ftems begin to advance 
and the bloffom buds grow turgid, you muft protect 
them from hafty rains, which would ‘wafh off their 
white mealiy farina, and greatly deface the beauty of 
their flowers •, but at the fame time obierve to keep 
them as much uncovered as poffible, otherwife their 
ftems will be drawn up too weak to fupport their flow- 
ers (which is often the cafe when their pots are placed 
near walls) give them gentle waterings to ftrengthen 
them, but let none of. the water fall into the center 
of the plant, or among the leaves. 
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